Stefan Dimitrov Stoyanov

I was impressed by the fact that the university is well established in the world for its close research cooperation with business. The university's ambition to create a tech hub in Guildford inspired me too.

Surrey Business School is famous for delivering consistently outstanding learning outcomes for its students. This fact persuaded me that Surrey would bring my existing business knowledge up to a world-class level. 

Surrey also has a perfect location. It is in Guildford, a small, quiet and peaceful place, with less pollution and a mild climate. Here I can focus more effectively on my studies and relax within the beautiful nature, which surrounds the town. At the same time, it is only 30 minutes away by train from London, one of the best cities in the world for business.

As big data and data science are shaping the future of management science, I find my modules such as econometrics, finance and investment, marketing analytics, supply chain analytics, business process management, data analytics, and machine learning and visualisations, are equipping me with new analytical approaches and techniques. I am also acquiring skills for using a wide range of contemporary software tools and programming skills. All these are required to convert big data to actionable insight into a business and to make high impact business decisions confidently.

I am delighted that my programme has a practical approach. Along with the theoretical studies my fellow students and I have the chance to apply the taught concepts in practice. From the very beginning of the first semester, we started working on laboratory tutorials, academic essays and real business projects. These tasks helped me to understand and learn much better the wide variety of business concepts.

I didn't expect it, but by the end of the first semester, I was proud to say I had already developed my first data mining business project in the field of marketing and insurance.

"I am delighted that my programme has a practical approach. Along with the theoretical studies my fellow students and I have the chance to apply the taught concepts in practice."

This achievement gave me more self-confidence, inspiration and motivated me to continue working hard on the upcoming modules during the second semester.

I have found learning to use different analytics software as Eviews, SPPSS Modeller, SPSS Statistics and R has been extremely useful. However, for me, the most valuable skill I have learnt so far is to undertake both a confident and structured academic and practical approach to implement business studies and solve complex real business problems to deliver data-driven objective management insights.

My programme will have a significant impact on my career. I am confident it will prepare me for a successful and challenging career as a business analyst and consultant at a multinational corporation. There are many opportunities for business analysts in the field of finance and investment, insurance, tourism, retail, healthtech or any other high-tech business sector. Becoming an experienced business analyst will help lead me to a promotion to a senior manager at a prestigious company, or I will be able to set up my own business consultancy company. 

The placement path of my MSc course became crucial for my professional development. At Boemska, I immersed in the fantastic world of SAS and big enterprise analytics. I am happy that my passion for data science and the efforts to further develop in the field of machine learning during my placement had been recognised by the global leader in analytics.

As a recipient of the 2020 SAS Student Ambassador Award (a representative of Surrey Business School/University of Surrey and the only one from Europe), I've earned an all-expense-paid opportunity to travel to and present at the 2020 SAS® Global Forum conference, March 29 – April 1 in Washington, DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. I will do a 20-minute presentation about my experience with SAS Viya for Learners (software designed for academic use by both educators and students) and how using it during my placement has built on my academic studies at the University of Surrey. At SAS® Global Forum, I'll join over 5,000 SAS users from more than 35 countries for 3.5 days of intense learning and networking. This is an excellent opportunity for my professional development. I can say that my time at the University of Surrey is a life-changing experience for me.”

Discover more about Surrey Business School courses, including our MSc Business Analytics.